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Books bring out the best in people. And this being an editorial, I get to tell you why I say that.
It isn't just the story we mention in this issue, the blurb about a German group who braved a fire to save priceless books. No, my reasons are much more commonplace.
I'm talking about books and trust and being the best person you can be.
Now, I do not know if my belief is based on our respect for knowledge and a book being a symbol of what we know and what we can potentially learn. But I instinctively know books elicit something fine in most of us.
Here's my reason:
A few months ago the New York Times Connecticut section reported on a small fresh fish shop in Stonington, Connecticut. Stonington is the quintessential coastal town with escalating prices and a population that can afford to live there. This particular seafood stand was a freezer and a box for money. Yep - the honor system all the way, the kind of system you might find at a roadside produce stand outside someone's home. In this case, get your lobster, blue fish, whatever and drop the amount you owe in the box.
I wondered if this kind of trust would hold true where I live - a quintessential blue collar, rust belt city striving to make its way up in the world. Now, there were people who thought I was crazy with what I did next. After all, as early as the fifties Stag Magazine reported this was a "Grade A sin pit." And that label was hard to overcome with three mayors hauled off to the hoosegow (two of them in my time).
But I persevered and put two rolling racks and 4 dump tables full of mass-market paperbacks outside my store. I was selling them 4 for a dollar, $3 a bag, or $5 for two bags. I left them out day and night to see what would happen.
You have to understand we do not sell mass-market pbs in our shop or on the Internet, and these just piled up on us, so I really was experimenting with something of little or no value to me. Nonetheless, I had very little theft. I did have money slipped under my door and people coming up to me throughout the day, handing me money for books they took while we were closed. In fact, some people insisted on paying a full dollar for one or two books only, insisting that they wanted to help defray the loss from theft so I would continue trusting them.
See what I mean? Books do bring out the best in people.
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